BARBT^S VULGARIS. 115 



The Barbel (Fig. 4G) has the body fully five times as long- as high, nearly 

 cylindrical, with an elongated head, and the mouth somewhat under the pro- 

 jecting fleshy upper lip. These fishes have been compared to pigs, on account of 

 their small eyes and the routing, burrowing movement of the snout in taking 

 food. The tail part of the body is much compressed laterally. In old individuals 

 the head is equal to about one-fourth of the length of the fish. The eye, which 

 in the young is about one-fifth the length of the head, subsequently becomes 

 one-sixth or one-seventh of its length, and the eyes are at first nearer together 

 than in the adult fish, in which they are separated by twice their diameter. 

 The angle of the aperture of the mouth extends back to the nares. The pro- 

 longed fleshy nose, which thickens with age, extends over the thick upper lip. 



Fii^-. 46. — KAKHU.s vuLG.\uis (fleming). 



The barbels of the upper jaw elongate a little with age, but would always reach 

 to the nares. The barbels of the angle of the mouth laid back would reach 

 beneath the eye. The contour of the top of the head rises convexly to the 

 occipital region, and there is a long flat arch from the occiput to the dorsal fin. 



The short dorsal fin begins half-way down the body ; it is higher than 

 long, and commences a little in front of the ventral fin; its bony ray is 

 serrated posteriorly, and is longer than the other rays ; the last ray is about 

 one-third that length. This fin has been compared to the sail of a Thames 

 barge. 



The anal fin is placed far back in the middle of the hinder half of the body ; 

 it is higher than long, but its longest ray is shorter than that of the dorsal. 

 It is truncated behind, though its free margin is rounded. The ventral fins often 

 have the rays as long as in the anal fin, but these fins do not reach back to the 

 vent. The pectoral fins have rays of about the same length. The tail fin, accord- 

 ing to Heckel and Kner, consists of seventeen jointed rays, which are supported 

 by rather shorter pseudo-rays, to the number of ten in the upper lobe and eight 



